@article {7978, title = {Serum magnesium and calcium levels in relation to ischemic stroke: Mendelian randomization study.}, journal = {Neurology}, volume = {92}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Feb 26}, pages = {e944-e950}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether serum magnesium and calcium concentrations are causally associated with ischemic stroke or any of its subtypes using the mendelian randomization approach.

METHODS: Analyses were conducted using summary statistics data for 13 single-nucleotide polymorphisms robustly associated with serum magnesium (n = 6) or serum calcium (n = 7) concentrations. The corresponding data for ischemic stroke were obtained from the MEGASTROKE consortium (34,217 cases and 404,630 noncases).

RESULTS: In standard mendelian randomization analysis, the odds ratios for each 0.1 mmol/L (about 1 SD) increase in genetically predicted serum magnesium concentrations were 0.78 (95\% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.89; = 1.3 {\texttimes} 10) for all ischemic stroke, 0.63 (95\% CI 0.50-0.80; = 1.6 {\texttimes} 10) for cardioembolic stroke, and 0.60 (95\% CI 0.44-0.82; = 0.001) for large artery stroke; there was no association with small vessel stroke (odds ratio 0.90, 95\% CI 0.67-1.20; = 0.46). Only the association with cardioembolic stroke was robust in sensitivity analyses. There was no association of genetically predicted serum calcium concentrations with all ischemic stroke (per 0.5 mg/dL [about 1 SD] increase in serum calcium: odds ratio 1.03, 95\% CI 0.88-1.21) or with any subtype.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found that genetically higher serum magnesium concentrations are associated with a reduced risk of cardioembolic stroke but found no significant association of genetically higher serum calcium concentrations with any ischemic stroke subtype.

}, issn = {1526-632X}, doi = {10.1212/WNL.0000000000007001}, author = {Larsson, Susanna C and Traylor, Matthew and Burgess, Stephen and Boncoraglio, Giorgio B and Jern, Christina and Micha{\"e}lsson, Karl and Markus, Hugh S} }